2012: Hits and misses (4)

Hit: The amazing Thomas Leeb was here for a captivating performance. He signed my CD as well.Mua ha ha ha ha ha!!

Miss: Dark Funeral went round the world including Malaysia & Indonesia, bypassing Singapore in the process. Maybe the map of the world suggested this island was part of Peninsula Malaysia because its northern perimeter looks like a perfect fit to Malaysia's southern-most fringes (go ahead, cut the shapes out & do a jigsaw matching). Either that or the island presented itself to look like one of Indonesia's fragmented islands. But that shouldn't be the case because the band was here before, aeons ago when I was serving the nation & had to miss the date because of sentry duty back in camp. How could I forget such things, yes? Bummer.

2012: Hits and misses (3)

Hit: Ibanez's 25th Anniversary RG1XXV. OK, so it was a little wishful thinking on our part- that Ibanez would kick start 2012 with a bang considering their most iconic guitar model, the RG, celebrates its 25th year of production. It was a bang alright, but coming from a small gun. The RG1XXV was given the Premium treatment & with the set of DiMarzio IBZ pickups in there, it's a value-for-money instrument.

Miss: Ibanez's 25th Anniversary RG2XXV. This is the final model under the Anniversary offering & it sure looks... ordinary. In fact, after giving it a go, I'd say it's indeed ordinary, so ordinary that it retails for as much as the RG350, a non-Anniversary model. If you'd like to amuse yourself with some matching coloured fretboard markers, go ahead. But with all due respect, it's not a dud.

2012: Hits & misses (2)

Hit- Duncan's 59/Custom hybrid pickup is a great addition to the fold; nothing really refreshing here, just a successful surgery of two already established pickups, housed in a single unit. It's not the manufacturer's original idea either, it's a product of one of the fans' tinkering. I'm happy with this pickup namely because it lives up to its fused reputation; in part a sweet clean player but a staunch distortion proponent given the drive settings. And then some great harmonics.

Miss- Shred meister Paul Gilbert showed everyone yet again what he could do with the guitar, a trio of single coils at the helm, mind you. However, with this one, he's putting a stop to the firm belief that he's abandoned his singing & song competency to splatter scary notes in your face full time. The shred is still there but it's riding on what Gilbert wanted them to do; to help manifest his ideas, mainly. It's a wonderful release this Vibrato album but it tested my patience in terms of guitar embrace. Nice, just not my type.

2012: Hit s & misses (1)

As we flip the final pages of 2012, some of us are tempted to back-track & refresh those highs for the year. We would also like to give the rancid encounters a last look to remind ourselves that everything isn't that sweet as we went along. Here's my edition of 2012's hits-&-misses, strictly personal, of course. Feel free to disagree.

Hit- The new Marshall DSL series. Re-vamped interpretation of the manufacturer's defunct JCM2000 DSL series only this time, with a more snarling drive section & then that spanking clean. This isn't an instant hit of course, it's made in Vietnam but that speaks very little of the actual performance on offer. A re-booted stellar performer for lesser asking price- why the heck not?

Miss- Commander Vai is someone I look up to regardless of his artistic directions. His phrasing & arrangements are simply sublime, so when a release like this comes my way, I takes a little more reach into my deeper understanding to accept what took place. There isn't any sublime messages on board, but a different manifestation of Commander Vai's music which is off tangent to my preference. A respectable release but not for me.

Ho, ho ho!

It's midnight! To friends & blog visitors- season's greetings! Gonna play guitar all day (hopefully)!

Gibson: SG Standard (mine...)

Occasionally, I will acquire something not really to my preference but a worthy inclusion in my tone arsenal. The 'Gibson' brand name is an indisputable icon when it comes to tone & that's not just for show. The instrument presents itself to be of certain indigenous character, well-vouched by people in this industry. So I thought, since the SG Standard is given a cosmetic make-over come 2013, I'd spend some good money (since there are no more Ibanez/ ESP distractions in the mean time) to own one pre-2013 model & this cherry-finished version was it.

That said, I am not obliged to embrace & forgive the manufacturer's instrument-making philosophy; I still deem the SG a forgiven reject (that neck dive, let's not get into that) but it's something I can live with.This isn't my first SG, mind you.

Sale: City Music (2012)

Sale starts tomorrow, but if you've been to the store, they good City Music chaps had the sale prices going for days already.

Eid 2012

Wishing all Muslim friends & blog readers a Salam Eid-Ul-Fitr; taking this opportunity to seek pardon for all my unbecoming remarks & other crude behaviour- if I have offended you in any way, please forgive me. I would also like to thank you readers in general, Muslims or otherwise, for coming back to read my entries- hope they have been useful. Stay safe everyone, enjoy the extended weekend.

ESP: Vintage Plus FR

One of the new ESPs offered in this region; the Vintage Plus FR. I'm somehow glad to see the VP series moving away from the relic finish & manifesting some contemporary features.

Ibanez: 2012 Premiums @ Swee Lee

The good Swee Lee people called me today to announce the arrival of Ibanez's 2012 Premium models. Among the numbers making it here are the Anniversary RG1XXV....

... and the JEM70V. They'd be on the shelves by Friday, 9th March. I'd be there in the evening to check them out, would love to say HI to the blog readers here in person (if you can make it) then :-)

EDIT (9-3-2012): BB showroom debut is delayed until further notice. 

LTD: Ben Savage

I'm still looking at the ESP 2012 line-up, this Ben Savage LTD looks good. He's the other player who prefers this headstock, next to Page Hamilton of course. I'm just too into an unmarked fretboard these days. Psychologically, it frees my mind to play more chromatics :-)

Slayer LTD 2012

This is the 2012 Slayer model by LTD; I was thinking, can this one be rightfully called the 'Slayer' model since not the entire band plays an ESP/LTD instrument? What if BC Rich decides to commemorate another Slayer release- would that count? Hmm...

Ibanez 2012: Models not offered here

These Ibanez models are offered in the USA but not here. The RG351 is something that many of us would be happy with; the dynamics of a tried & tested H-S-H pickup configured RG coupled with the hassle-free fixed bridge selection.

A quilt top RGA8; it's not a 'different' RGA8 per se but we are definitely happy if there is a variation in terms of the finish on offer. I would definitely speak for many of us who would want to break away from choosing another black guitar.

Gibson: Diablo SG

OK, so the SG got a Floyd Rose in it this year as well, this one's called the Diablo. Note the lesser number of knobs in there (2 more frets here in case you missed them...) but what I like is the body's curved top unlike the flat traditional model- lovely.

Fender 2012: Machete amp

I happened to chance upon Fender's Tone Master some time ago (like a decade ago, maybe) & it's perhaps the manufacturer's perfect amp for intense distortion. If you dig up the amp's history, you'd read about a certain Bon Jovi guitarist who clashed head-on with Fender for associating him with this amp He'd like a little respect for such associations because he wasn't formally the amp's ambassador despite having a signature Fender Stratocaster model. This led to the demise of that Fender signature guitar which was a hefty loss in my opinion because he single-highhandedly made the Fender fraternity like a Strat with a humbucker in it. Tragic. I'm with that Bon Jovi guitarist in acknowledging the fact that Fender's Tone Master set itself apart from the glassy-clean domain of Twins & DeVilles in propelling distortion goodness. I certainly wish the Tone Master would be reincarnated one day...

But this 2012, Fender has the Machete to tempt us all. I've not heard it in full bloom because it's still a fresh offering, I'm sure there'll be plenty to refer to in planet You Tube once NAMM's 2012 winter blizzard retreats to other realms. By virtue of this following clip (it's not too fantastic sounding, though), it sounds promising:

Charvel 2012: Desolation Star

This is the other Charvel revival for 2012; the Star model, still under the Desolation Series offerings.

But we know Gus G has a certain liking for this body outline.

Charvel 2012: Desolation Soloist

This is one of the new guitars featured in NAMM 2012; Charvel's Desolation Soloist. It's new for the manufacturer, not new to us but we are aware of the Jackson-Charvel affiliations.

Schecter: Jeff Loomis (slight return... 2012)

New for 2012, a Jeff Loomis 6-string version.

But if you still prefer a 7-string, Mr. Loomis has a V-type model this year.

ESP 2012

ESP's 2012 models are unveiled. More references at their homepage, highlighting a few 'interesting' models here. Don't rub your eyes, the doublecut you see above are indeed Kirk Hammett's new models.

Jeff Hanneman also moved away from his preferred body outline, it's a more Eclipse affair this 2012 but the Kahler bridge's retained.

Frank Bello moves away from the Fender/ Squier camp this year, it's over to ESP but hey, we know that body outline. It's all too familiar. 

This is 'new' for the USA market but the mystic black Horizon was already in store at Davis GMC in December 2011.

I have seen a selected range of non-USA offerings for 2012 & must say that there are some other interesting models which will make it here :-) Stay tuned...

Ibanez 2012: Falchion

2012's Falchion... still no fixed bridge version, still Edge III in there... *yawn*